THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As part of its effort to encourage volunteering and provide the opportunity for citizens to help Covid-19 patients who are struggling due to lack of bystanders, Kerala is gearing up to form Covid Vimukthi Sena - a team of Covid-recovered persons who are willing to work for Covid-related activities in the state.
The state health department has already set the plan in motion and webpage launched in the Covid-19 Jagratha portal to facilitate those interested in volunteering to do the registration. The plan is to deploy registered volunteers based on their expertise at Covid care centres, including the first line, second line and tertiary care centres.
Earlier, the state took a similar effort and formed Covid Brigade which was not a major success. For some reason, the state did not pursue its effort to deploy people registered to be part of the Covid Brigade - which was aimed at mobilising resources from outside the system to tide over the human resource crisis.
According to officials, the Covid Vimukthi Sena initiative would be of great help as the authorities can confidently utilise the services of Covid survivors as their chance of reinfection is very less.
“Our plan is to permit Covid recovered persons to be part of the Covid Vimukthi Sena. Preferably, persons between 18- 40 years without any chronic morbidities would be allowed to volunteer. We have already launched the web page for registration,” said a senior official of the health department. So far, around 5.6 lakh people have recovered from Covid-19 in the state.
The health department is planning to give comprehensive training to those who register in Covid Vimukthi Sena. Though the state government has granted permission allowing bystanders at Covid care centres, they are often reluctant to spend more time at hospital due to the fear of contracting the infection.
“The volunteers, besides helping the patients at wards, can also assist the health care team at CFLTCs, CSLTCs etc, if they have expertise in the medical field,” the official said. According to officials, there were queries from people who had recovered from Covid-19 for volunteering in many parts of the state. “Many are unable to join for work immediately after recovery as some workplaces do not allow them to return for work immediately. In such cases, they can utilise their time for volunteering which would give them the opportunity to be part of the historical fight against the pandemic,” said the official.
“We have only launched the webpage and once we start getting registration we will give them training. They will have to wear the PPE kits when they are volunteering for Covid patients,” the official said.